Grand Prix thread 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Chat and Predictions

Error. Made more sense to edit previous post. Please delete.

 

Well said.

I fear some darkened room in baku held a meeting of the nannies with a whining toto wolff and we will hear some stupid vacuous childish means to resolve what could and should be a the ruthless rivalry we want to see.

 

Saw this on Facebook, it made me laugh

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Now that it's all settled down here's my take, for what it's worth?

I don't believe that Vettel crashed into Lewis deliberately although I have no evidence to support this theory - it's just a gut reaction. Firstly, in his position there would be no reason to risk damage to his car and secondly he would know that it would result in a penalty. All the red mist in the world doesn't justify jeopardising your car or the lead of the championship. A calculating German understands that.

However, I do think there is an argument for a harsher punishment and here's why. The initial contact was accidental (I will come to this later) and his reaction - probably a combination of embarrassment and frustration - was to vent. In doing so he took two hands off the wheel and then flicked the car alongside. He corrects the turning input with his (*Edit for factual accuracy due to MY error) Right hand whilst gesticulating with the Left hand and looking at Lewis. In the process of the acceleration he hadn't corrrcted the steering input which results in contact. This is different to deliberately putting a direct input in.

Yellow flags, VSC and safety cars are there for the protection of marshalls, drivers, team personnel and spectators and should be adhered to with no exception. The fact that Vettel caused a collision by his own uneccessay actions under caution, which was unavoidable and uneccessay should arguably result in a more severe punishment, however this was the heaviest they could inmplement without DSQ.

I believe Lewis has not breached the rules, however this could be discussed under reg 39.13. However, I do not hold with the stewards explanation. They have focused on the non application of the brake which does not refute a drastic reduction in speed - alleged 89k to 40k. They also claim that Lewis did the same on his previous safety car start, but they did not make reference to the following one in which he held the pack the majority of the way down the final straight. They also do not take into consideration previous safety car restarts by both him and others. It must be noted that there is a suspicion that Lewis was asked to revise, change his restart approach for the final run (which he did). If this is corrrct then why?

Within the rules Lewis did nothing wrong, but he is as calculating and unsporting as any German.

Charlie and the stewards have created a cluster fuk of a situation with their inept inconsistency on all penalties and on all drivers. Yesterday was a fix of a solution, it went from being an after race decision to an immediate one following Lewis's unscheduled pit stop. Please consider that they had 20 minutes with the red flag to have made a decision?

I'm under the assumption that the stewards have enough information to believe that Vettel did not intentionally drive into him, and if so they should release it, as they have the vague no brake statement on behalf of Lewis. If they believe he did do it deliberately then they are morally bankrupt for not DSQ!

On a separate and final note, Bottas should have been punished. Kimi was ahead and had made the pass, after Bottas almost caused the first corner pile up by standing on his brakes. This is not the first time and it appears he is more focussed on blocking for his team then challenging for the lead!

This pretence that he is not at fault because he hit the kerb is absolute bollovks, he is responsible for his car. He deliberately and intentionally put his car there and is responsible for any contact thereafter. And here's why Charlie and the stewards are a disgrace. They made a false judgement that first lap incidents are less severe than others - WRONG.

They also viewed Bottas as having come of worse than Kimi and because of this it helped them not issue an additional punishment. They didn't feel that Kimi being taken out of effectively 2nd place with significant car damage was severe enough? WRONG.

His podium shows you should issue penalties by the book and not override through a mediation of belief that you feel a driver has been penalised enough for one day.

Peace out guys and girls

 

Go to 18 min 41 secs . Fair comment IMHO .

 

'Hes a big guy so needs to be on diet'

 

Can't wait to see the Austria press conference line up....

 

Just seeing Piquet makes my bloody boil... Grrrrr!

 

I imagine Hamilton will be full of sly remarks and Vettel will tell terrible jokes.

 

Looks like Benson has made a man mess all over the BBC F1 page

 

What a donkey.

 

Upset when it's full of Hamilton, upset when it's full of Vettel. There's no pleasing you lot!

 

REally , why ?

Qenuine question .

 

Just don't like the bloke. He's a bit of a knob.

 

Fair enough . Each to their own

 

Take the 'unsafe head restraint' issue into account (which happens regardless of the HAM/VET incident) and assuming no change in the stewards actions:

Sliding Doors moment 1 (for film buffs...). Vettel doesn't rear end Hamilton then, given Hamiltons problem, the points differential between the two would have been much greater (VET 1st, HAM 5th = 15 pts not 2pts).

Similarly, Sliding Doors moment 2 - Vettel rear ends Hamilton and gets 10 sec stop and go. If Hamilton (or his crew) had correctly fitted his head restraint after the Red Flag then it would have ended HAM 1st, VET 5th giving HAM 154pts and VET 151pts (if I've got my maths right).

So whichever it went the blame lies with the Mercedes pit crew.

Conveniently ignoring the dubious penalty in '2' of course but, hey, everyone is allowed an opinion.

 

Anybody notice that there appears to be no video footage of the Maldonado Lewis Spa incident on line - if there is I can't find it? For reference I think Maldonado got a 5 place grid penalty?

Interestingly Sky have their driver ratings up. Bottas 8 and Ocon 6 with the inference of Ocon being at fault and Bottas not.

 

Either way Lewis lost out big time, the season could hinge on this.

 

It could cost them both dearly. If Vettel only just clinches it then the headrest can be blamed till March. If Hamilton just clinches it we can all go over the swipe until March. Lose Lose

The Maldonando thing was in Q1 I think, if that helps at all?

 

Awful video so hard to see, but could be argued that it's nowhere near as bad?